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The Gaiety Theatre is a theatre on South King Street in
Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...
,
Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George's Channel. Ireland is the s ...
, off Grafton Street and close to
St. Stephen's Green St Stephen's Green () is a garden square and public park located in the city centre of Dublin, Ireland. The current landscape of the park was designed by William Sheppard. It was officially re-opened to the public on Tuesday, 27 July 1880 by Lo ...
. It specialises in operatic and musical productions, with occasional dramatic shows.


History

In April 1871, the brothers John and Michael Gunn obtained a 21-year license to establish "a well-regulated theatre and therein at all times publicly to act, represent or perform any interlude, tragedy, comedy, prelude, opera, burletta, play, farce or pantomime". In favour of the Gunn's license application was that, unlike the existing theatres, they were not proposing to promote local drama which had acquired something of a reputation with the Dublin Castle administration for stirring up nationalist sentiments. The city centre site in King Street was 17 metres wide on King Street and 42 metres deep towards Tangier Lane. The Gunns employed the experienced theatre architect Mr C.J. Phipps, One of the theatres Philips had recently completed in 1868 in London was The Gaiety and its name and auditorium layout were adopted for the new theatre in Dublin. The audience capacity was 2000 spread over four floors: the 'parterre' or ground floor pit with 21 rows of seats; the dress circle and upper circle comprising: balcony stalls with 7 rows of seats, the first circle with 6 rows of seats, the amphitheater with 2 rows of seats; and the top floor gallery with 9 rows of seats; plus 14 private boxes. Each class of seats was accessed via its own entrance and stairway. There was a smoking balcony, bars on each floor and a tea-room. The design included tip-up seats (an innovative way of increasing the audience capacity) and fire-safety features such as a 4” water main (for firefighting) and stone (not wooden) staircases. Back stage: the theatre was radically different from others in Ireland. From the outset the Gunns decided that their new theatre would be a ‘receiving house’: that is, it would receive touring companies and would not have its own company of actors or a repertory programme: As a receiving house, there was no need for extensive rehearsal spaces, workshops or storage areas. The theatre was built for £26,000, and construction was completed in just 28 weeks. The Gaiety was opened on 27 November 1871, with the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland as guest of honour for a double bill which included the comedy ''
She Stoops to Conquer ''She Stoops to Conquer'' is a comedy by Oliver Goldsmith, first performed in London in 1773. The play is a favourite for study by English literature and theatre classes in the English-speaking world. It is one of the few plays from the 18th ...
'' and a burlesque version of ''
La Belle Sauvage ''La Belle Sauvage'' is a fantasy novel by Philip Pullman published in 2017. It is the first volume of a planned trilogy titled '' The Book of Dust'' and is set twelve years before Pullman's ''His Dark Materials''. It presents events prior to th ...
''. The Gaiety was extended by theatre architect Frank Matcham in 1883, and, despite several improvements to public spaces and stage changes, it retains several
Victorian era In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwa ...
features and remains Dublin's longest-established, continuously producing theatre. Patrick Wall and
Louis Elliman Louis Elliman (28 February 1903 – 15 November 1965) was an Irish impresario and theatre manager. Elliman was born in Dublin, one of 12 children of Jewish parents: Maurice Elliman, who had fled Tsarist persecution in Russia, and his wife, Lea ...
bought the theatre in 1936 and ran it for several decades with local actors and actresses. They sold it in 1965, and in the 1960s and the 1970s the theatre was run by Fred O'Donovan and the
Eamonn Andrews Studios Eamonn Andrews Studios was founded by broadcaster Eamonn Andrews, famous for being the presenter with the big red book of '' This Is Your Life,'' a British television programme. In the 1960s, the launch of television in Ireland led him to become the ...
, until - in the 1980s - Joe Dowling (former artistic director of the
Abbey Theatre The Abbey Theatre ( ga, Amharclann na Mainistreach), also known as the National Theatre of Ireland ( ga, Amharclann Náisiúnta na hÉireann), in Dublin, Ireland, is one of the country's leading cultural institutions. First opening to the p ...
) became director of the Gaiety. In the 1990s, ''Groundwork Productions'' took on the lease and the theatre was eventually bought by the ''Break for the Border Group''. The Gaiety was purchased by music promoters MCD (in turn owned by Denis Desmond and his wife Caroline) in the late 1990s. The new owners undertook a refit of the theatre, with the Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism contributing to the restoration fund.


Use

Performers and playwrights associated with the theatre have been celebrated with hand-prints cast in
bronze Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals, such as phosphorus, or metalloids suc ...
and set in the pavement beneath the theatre canopy. These handprints include those of
Luciano Pavarotti Luciano Pavarotti (, , ; 12 October 19356 September 2007) was an Italian operatic tenor who during the late part of his career crossed over into popular music, eventually becoming one of the most acclaimed tenors of all time. He made numero ...
, Brendan Grace, Maureen Potter, Twink, John B Keane, Anna Manahan, Niall Toibin and
Brian Friel Brian Patrick Friel (c. 9 January 1929 – 2 October 2015) was an Irish dramatist, short story writer and founder of the Field Day Theatre Company. He had been considered one of the greatest living English-language dramatists. (subscription requ ...
. The theatre played host to the 1971 Eurovision Song Contest, the first to be staged in Ireland, during the Gaiety's centenary year. Clodagh Rodgers (a contestant in that particular contest) later presented her RTÉ TV series ''The Clodagh Rodgers Show'' from the theatre in the late 1970s. The Gaiety is known for its annual
Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A feast central to the Christian liturgical year ...
pantomime Pantomime (; informally panto) is a type of musical comedy stage production designed for family entertainment. It was developed in England and is performed throughout the United Kingdom, Ireland and (to a lesser extent) in other English-speakin ...
and has hosted a pantomime every year since 1874, though no production was possible in 2020 due to the COVID-19 crisis, with the scheduled panto, ''The Little Mermaid'' postponed until 2021. Actor and director Alan Stanford directed both Gaiety productions of '' Snow White'' and '' Sleeping Beauty''. Irish entertainer June Rodgers starred in the Gaiety pantomime for years, until she began to headline the equally established Olympia Theatre panto. The Gaiety's pantomimes have included Irish performers that appeal to homegrown audiences, including a number of '' Fair City'' actors.


References


External links

*
Gaiety Theatre Scrapbook, 1913-1937
at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, Special Collections Research Center
Souvenir of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the opening of the Gaiety Theatre: 27 November 1871; with Michael Gunn's compts.
Digital Library@Villanova University. {{Coord, 53.340312, N, 6.261601, W, type:landmark_region:IE, display=title Theatres in Dublin (city) Charles J. Phipps buildings